R.I.P.
R.I.P. Robert Northern, Jazz Artist Also Known as Brother Ah, Dead at 86
Accomplished jazz artist Robert Northern, also known as Brother Ah, has died at the age of 86. He passed away on May 31st in Washington, DC after battling a respiratory illness, as reported by the New York Times. Northern was born in 1934 in Kinston, North Carolina, but was raised primarily in the South Bronx area of New York City. The first few decades of his lengthy music career saw the French horn master serve as a session musician for jazz legends such as John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Gil Evans, Quincy Jones, and McCoy Tyner. He notably appeared on records like Monk’s The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall from 1959 and Quincy Jones Explores the Music of Henry Mancini released in 1964. Around this same era, Northern played as part of Sun Ra’s cosmic, ever-e...
R.I.P. Lynn Shelton, Acclaimed Indie Filmmaker Dead at 54
Lynn Shelton, acclaimed independent filmmaker of Humpday, Your Sister’s Sister, and last year’s Sword of Trust, passed away in Los Angeles on Friday. She was 54. Shelton’s longtime publicist Adam Kersh confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that she died as a result of a previously unidentified blood disorder. Born in Ohio, Shelton attended Oberlin College before going on to study Drama at Seattle’s University of Washington. She continued exploring the arts in New York City, receiving a Master’s of Fine Arts in photography and related media at the School of Visual Arts. After cutting her teeth as a film editor in the industry, Shelton began setting the template for the indie filmmaking movement of the aughts. Her 2006 debut We Go Way Back turned heads at that year’s Slamdance Festival, but it...
R.I.P. Astrid Kirchherr, Legendary Beatles Photographer Dies at 81
Astrid Kirchherr, the legendary rock photographer who documented the earliest days of The Beatles, has died at 81. Via The Guardian, Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn announced the news of her passing on Friday. No cause of death is known at this time. Born in 1938 in Hamburg, Germany, Kirchhherr became one of The Beatles’ earliest fans during their 1960 residency at Hamburg’s Kaiserkeller club. At the time the band consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete Best. Kirchherr convinced them to sit for their first photo session, and later became engaged to Sutcliffe until his death in 1962. In addition to capturing the band’s time in Germany, Kirchherr famously advised them to cut their hair into mop tops. Those hairstyles became one the band...
